Mr. John McKeon:

Certainly, and they would be asked similar questions if they were in our service or a local employment service. When a case worker is providing a service to a client, it is important that the case worker understands the personal circumstances of that client. If the client has addiction issues, the case worker will refer him or her to the relevant addiction services. These are perfectly reasonable and relevant questions and I would defend the right of someone to ask them. They are confidential.

In my experience, everyone who is unemployed would like to work if given the right opportunity and support. Some people have been unemployed for a long time, and they are the ones we are discussing. In many cases, they have been unemployed for a very long time. People in that situation lose their confidence and faith in their ability to get a job. Sometimes, they settle for things for which they should not settle. The purpose of the activation process is to try to give them the support to get out of that, move on and start being confident about going for employment. The-----